Of landlords and female feticide

Are girls really considered a social stigma in your state? Is female feticide practiced on a large scale in your city? Is having a daughter still looked down upon?

I have been pestered with these questions whenever I mingle with people coming from different parts India especially from the south. They are flabbergasted to know that humans could behave in such barbaric manner. I ended up trying to find out why my own state – Punjab – is frowned upon whenever talks of child sex ratio (CSR) and female sex ratio do the rounds. Interactions with gynecologists, lawyers, the district family planning officer and some experts helped in drawing more clarity.

While India itself does not fare too well in this respect, Punjab is far worse. The latest census of 2011 portrayed the preference bestowed on boys in our society as the child sex ratio records touched an all- time low of 914 females to 1000 males since independence, thanks to states like Punjab and Haryana.

Is Punjab patting its back for the positive jump it achieved in the CSR in Census 2011? Running for the last spot in Census 2001 recording a CSR of 798 Punjab did make leap of 48 points but only to secure one of the last positions.

Well, it is time the state pinched itself back to reality. The ‘land of five rivers’ and one of the wealthiest states in India has to bow its head in shame every 10 years when the census is conducted. Although Census 2011 was full of surprises, Punjab has been competing for the last two spots with Haryana for the lowest sex ratio.

According to National Crime Research Bureau, Punjab topped the list of female feticide cases in 2010 with 81 cases.

The reasons behind the skewed CSR are more or less bizarre. Having grown up in the state, I can with much assertiveness say that the ‘objectification of women’ and the highly patriarchal set up of our society has much to do with it. Dowry related deaths, family’s reputation at stake and the age old Hindu custom of burning of the funeral pyre by a son are deep rooted.

Another reason advocated by some is ecofeminism, a recent concept that lays stress on the fact that because agriculture is the primary activity in Punjab and the advent of Green Revolution in the 1970s lead to a fall in the sex ratio.

The argument put forth is that it gave rise to mechanisation of agriculture which made women dispensable on fields restricting them to attend to household chores. Not making any economic contribution to the household led to their position being devalued.

But it can be further argued that Punjab’s figures have been dismal ever since the first census was conducted in 1881, figures are available from 1901, whereas Green Revolution happened only in the 1970s.

Another factor is a girl’s property rights. The amendment of the Hindu Succession Act in 2005 is behind its’ onset. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was amended in 2005 with the aim to provide women with greater property rights and hence increased security but states like Punjab and Haryana were not ready to accept the change.

Daughters who earlier could not claim rights on their father’s property can now demand for an equal share in their father’s ancestral property.

What the law says:

Give equal rights to daughter (even married) in the Hindu coparcenary property as the sons have.

The female heir can ask for partition in respect of the dwelling house wholly occupied by the joint family and not wait until the male heirs choose to divide the respective shares within.

Women’s inheritance rights in agricultural land is equal to men’s.

The discrimination that widows could not ask for their share if they remarried has also been removed.

With land being an immovable commodity and the property prices soaring, women are being seen as a hurdle by the brothers who were earlier the sole heirs of their ancestral property.

Seeing their land rights slip from their hands, they resorted to barbaric means. It has been seen that the rate of female feticide is higher in areas with a larger zamindaar population, owners of major chunks of land.

The future seems hopeful by looking at the latest survey. But is it disguised in a cloak? Are we really hitting the nail on the right spot or just revelling in the short term positive achievement.

All these reasons are responsible for making women the ‘second sex’ in one of the most prosperous states of India. Is Punjab capable of undergoing a remarkable change in not only the figures but also its’ mindset? High time it wakes up and shows some chivalry.

(Tables from http://www.censusindia.gov.in )

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Author

Kuhika Seth feels like a jack of all trades and master of none. A journalist with The Times of India Online, she is still befuddled and is figuring out what the term ‘journalist’ actually means. A recent college graduate caught in the web of working life for the past few months, she is trying to adjust herself to it while constantly pinching herself and reminding herself ‘hey, you cannot bunk anymore, cannot walk out of classes if you are sleepy and most importantly cannot ask for money from your parents’. A wishful atheist but stuck on to being an agnostic (taking the easy road), she is constantly on the lookout for something fascinating. She is a food lover who believes in the ‘live to eat’ theory thoroughly -- if one cannot appreciate good food, one cannot appreciate anything in life.

Kuhika Seth feels like a jack of all trades and master of none. A journalist with The Times of India Online, she is still befuddled and is figuring out what. . .

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Kuhika Seth feels like a jack of all trades and master of none. A journalist with The Times of India Online, she is still befuddled and is figuring out what the term ‘journalist’ actually means. A recent college graduate caught in the web of working life for the past few months, she is trying to adjust herself to it while constantly pinching herself and reminding herself ‘hey, you cannot bunk anymore, cannot walk out of classes if you are sleepy and most importantly cannot ask for money from your parents’. A wishful atheist but stuck on to being an agnostic (taking the easy road), she is constantly on the lookout for something fascinating. She is a food lover who believes in the ‘live to eat’ theory thoroughly -- if one cannot appreciate good food, one cannot appreciate anything in life.

Kuhika Seth feels like a jack of all trades and master of none. A journalist with The Times of India Online, she is still befuddled and is figuring out what. . .